It was inevitable. Jake Owen knew that going back on tour would mean missing important moments back home with his 5-year-old daughter, Pearl — he just didn't realize how much missing those things would hurt his heart.

"There was a daddy-daughter dance for Pearl on a Friday, and it was the same Friday that I already had a show booked for,” he tells Taste of Country from his tour bus. Owen's Life’s Whatcha Make It Tour started Oct. 4.

"I had to miss it. It's so hard. I hate that sometimes I have to miss those moments," he admits.

Jake Owen Gets Real About Fatherhood

It's a plight that so many parents, famous or not, are forced to face as they try to juggle life at home with responsibilities at work. And for Owen, it’s something that he has come to accept may never get easier.

"One thing I never have been able to find is a manual telling me how to travel around and play music when you have a little girl missing you at home," says the "I Was Jack (You Were Diane)" hitmaker. "It’s not like I can turn to page 89 and figure out the best way to do that. It’s tough for me."

Life was different for Owen when he was a single guy looking to make a career out of music, living a life on the road.

"For a lot of years, I was just a single guy and I really didn’t have a purpose," he says. "There was never a reason to head right home. I would watch as my band members would get off the bus and they just couldn’t wait to get home, and I never could totally understand that feeling. I could stay on the road forever, but now I totally understand what they were going through."

Because now, Owen has an adorable reason to come home. She turns six next month. "Now I not only have a reason to go home, but I want to go home. Nothing is better than going home now," he explains of reuniting with Pearl. "She loves me and gosh, I love her. There is a bond that a dad and a daughter has that is unlike anything else. I will cherish it forever."